Copious Notes

Your reaction to the choice of Ellen DeGeneres as the new judge on American Idol may depend on how seriously you take American Idol judging.

It’s been hard to take the judging seriously for a long time, at least when they get to the live broadcasts.

Ellen DeGeneres. AP Photo/Matt Sayles.

Simon Cowell is there to be nasty, Paula Abdul was supposed to be sweet, and Randy, while maybe being the most substantive of the original trio, still seemed to be caught up in spinning phrases like, “those vocals were jumpin’ off, Dawg.” Huh?

New judge Kara DioGuardi took a few shots at constructive criticism this past season, but usually found herself shut down by Simon and a crowd that had little patience for it.

So, while I can see the argument that Ellen-for-Paula was trading a real recording artist for a comedian and talk show host, I cannot say I think the talent evaluation will take a substantive dive without Paula at the desk. This was not like Robert De Niro judging an acting competition or Tom Wolfe evaluating writers. Project Runway judging looks downright egg-headed next to the AI panel, which is essentially judging as entertainment.

The verdict was delivered a long time ago: Ellen is entertaining.

And she’s a music fan. When AI gets to the live rounds, it has turned the decision over to the fans anyway. So, if a fan is on the panel, and she’s entertaining, the audience wins.

If you don’t like Ellen, there’s probably no way you’ll like the decision. But debating her credentials to be a judge is taking American Idol judging too seriously.

With two weeks left in the American Idol competition, Entertainment Weekly came out with a bit of a bold cover story for its current issue: “Loving Adam Lambert: The Most Exciting American Idol Contestant in Years.”

Sorry Danny Gokey and Kris Allen, but one of the leading entertainment magazines in America is brushing right past you and presuming the man with the sky-scraping vocals should be anointed the newest American Idol. Bold, but OK, EW does pride itself on being a taste-making magazine — and this blog is on record as supporting the astonishingly-talented Lambert.

Here’s what was funny in EW’s headline and story. There was an asterisk on the  headline, “*And Not Just Because He Might Be Gay.”

Initial thought: Being gay, alone, would make someone exciting? The bigger issue is that when you get to the story, the sexuality question is hardly an asterisk. After an opening that talks about how Lambert has defied an Idol history of humility and blandness with a bold, individual approach, writer Mark Harris zeroes in on the sexuality question and stays there.

The presumption seems to be that it would be groundbreaking for Idol to annoint an openly gay winner. For the record, Lambert has not directly addressed his sexuality in interviews with the craftiness of a politician not wanting to tick anyone off as the election draws near.

OK, Idol has not crowned an openly gay winner, yet. But in the world of pop music and pop culture in general, this ship sailed a long, long time ago. Regardless of what opinion polls have said, music fans have turned many artists who are openly gay or have ambiguous sexual preferences into big stars: Elton John, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Queen’s Freddie Mercury, and Melissa Etheridge, just to name a few. Ellen DeGeneres has become an afternoon television star, and got a standing O from her audience when she returned from a summer break and talked about her wedding, in which she married Portia di Rossi.

We may have expected EW to spend a paragraph or two on the  gay buzz about Lambert. But what makes EW such a strong magazine is that it usually concentrates on the art, the product, and leaves the gossip rag stuff to magazines like In Touch Weekly and People. And there are interesting questions about Adam Lambert the artist I was frankly looking for EW to explore:

• Did his bottom three finish two weeks ago indicate he’s more of a critics/judges’ darling than fan favorite?
• He’s been in L.A. trying to break through for a while. Is Idol just the break he needs, or is his past an indication he’d be more of a Taylor Hicks than Kelly Clarkson if he won?
• Lambert is bringing a style — glam — to the Idol stage we have not seen in years, well over a decade. Could one American Idol winner bring a genre back?

After all, one of the reasons people started picking up on a gay vibe was Lambert’s penchant for theatrics and makeup. But back in the ’70s and ’80s, those things were de rigeur for many male pop stars, gay and straight. I remember jokes about whether Duran Duran bassist John Taylor and his supermodel girlfriend got their makeup mixed up. Lambert would have looked like a Marlboro Man on the L.A. hair metal scene.

So, Lambert’s run is fascinating, and Entertainment Weekly had a chance to make a bold statement with its cover story. Instead, they asked a pretty weak question and failed to talk about what makes him exciting.